Reunited at last.

Deciding what to wear to my high school reunion: This...


...or this. I went with the dress.


It was a complete blessing to have my 10-year high school reunion the week I got back from Europe. I have not stayed in touch with most of my classmates and with any reunion, you want to make a good impression about who you are and where you have been.

I think that if I had stayed in the States, working my same job, I would have been a little nervous about the whole thing. I could see myself maybe trying to get in shape and look my best to cover up how unhappy I really felt. Because I would know everyone would be into my job and not really about me, and that would just make me feel horrible.

Here I walk into this reunion, unemployed with flabby thighs that have not seen the gym in over three months, but I felt the most confident I have ever felt in my life. Okay, I did go out and buy a new dress. But more importantly, I just knew who I was. And that made all the difference.

I saw my good old friend Stacy, whom I vowed to stay in touch with this time around. We have tried a few times--our lives are different--but it was so easy to talk to her that what is stopping us? There was Becky, who cracked the same kinds of jokes, who reminded me of the notes we used to pass in class in a little notebook that she's still got.


Stacy.


Lauren, Becky and me.


There were so many familiar faces, people who I have wondered about, people who haven't even crossed my mind, people who I didn't even recognize until I was told who they are. The guys who I thought were cute in high school did not suit me anymore. Then there were some who I never noticed before that got a second look. Friendships have changed. Everyone was married. This kid Paul's girlfriend, who was not in our class, took a liking to me. "Why weren't you friends with her in high school? I love her." she asked her boyfriend. Paul and I kind of looked at each other and shrugged.

More than one person asked me if I ended up in fashion, or at least something creative. I was such a clotheshorse in high school, and it was nice to be remembered for that. It shows how I have suppressed that side of me over the years because I don't think anyone in my current life would say that about me now. But maybe now that will arise once again. Who knows?

A lot of people who I wished to see did not make the event. And when the bar finally kicked us out after midnight, I bumped into two of them: my childhood friends Tania and Anna. Tania and I have stayed in touch and is a loyal reader of the Ham. Anna, I haven't seen in ten years. She looked so good. I kept telling her how pretty she looks. She has a 7-year-old daughter. She showed me a picture of a Anna look-alike playing tennis. So cute. They had completely missed the reunion and were pumping me for details and then we, alongside with some of their friends, drove crosstown to this little Ukrainian bar, where we met up with Anna's sister Adriana. (The highlight was Tania parallel parking Anna's car in a tiny spot, where she proceeded to turn on all the wipers and lights in the process. We were dying of laughter. She made it work though).

We drank and laughed into the morning. I took a cab home and got back at 4 in the morning. Threw my new frock on the couch and jumped into my empty bed. It was a real good night. It couldn't have gone better.


The after party: Sisters Anna and Adriana.


Me, Adriana, and Tania.